When you need videos for your business or personal brand, the most common thing to do is to ask around for videographers, but is that what you actually need? Is a videographer going to help you reach your goals beyond getting a video created?

If you are a business owner, someone who is building a personal brand, or an entrepreneur, you need your content to be useful. You need your content to have a “job”.

In 2018, it is not about your video alone, but what the video can do for you throughout its life, and that is where I come in.

3 significant things make me different from your average videographer that I will expand on within this piece. For each point of uniqueness, I share my personal story of why I was doing each in the first place. I did this so that you can understand how I arrived at each point of originality through my life experiences.

I never planned to pick up any of these skills, but they have all contributed to what makes me unique as a videographer.

The 3 things that make me different from other videographers

1 – A marketing background that I apply to businesses I work with

In 2011, my brother launched a project called Daily Fresh Clothing, a website that sold clothing through content.

He was much more serious about digital marketing than most people were at the time. Of course, him being my older brother made me want to learn the ins and outs of the digital world through him.

I studied social media, posted often, ran advertisements, and we even had a series of small successes that were huge in their own ways. My father was a great marketer who always made me aware of the marketing messages around me, this is where my passion for digital marketing began.

Fast forward to the beginning of 2013. It was my final semester of college and I was doing two internships at the same time. One was in Providence, Rhode Island at RDW Group and in New York City at MRY (when I worked there, it was still called “Mr Youth”).

Taking the bus back and forth between cities was tough, but I knew that I wanted to be in the advertising agency world. I was determined to figure out how to get my “spot” and nothing would stop me from attaining that dream.

Since this time, I have worked for agencies in New York City like Carrot Creative (VICE), Havas Worldwide, Young & Rubicam & Ogilvy to name a few. Through this time, I worked on brands like Wilson Sports, Rolex, Nationwide, American Express & IBM to name a few. I have worked across analytics, strategy (brand, digital, social) and community management.

This experience taught me a lot about how the “big guys” do things, but I was always able to find ways to make what they were doing unique and my own. That is what truly made me feel alive.

I use the experiences that I have had at agencies to assess every business separately and create a plan based on that businesses unique needs.

My time at agencies was valuable, but one skill that I developed on my own is my design sense…

2 – A strong background in graphic design

When I was about 13 years old, all I wanted to do was watch my brother use Adobe Photoshop. I would sit there for hours, simply in awe of what he was able to create.

After a while, I would wait behind my brother for my chance to use Photoshop to create whatever my teenage heart desired. He would finally get off of the computer, and I would play around in photoshop for hours.

To this day, I remember how free it felt just to be able to create. No expectations, no goals, just unbothered creativity. I eventually found tutorials, and they changed my life. I realized I could learn about any effect I wanted and really make my graphic design projects shine.

Fast forward a year and I was creating everything I could for my friends and family. Myspace layouts, designing t-shirts, making CD covers, anything to do Photoshop and make a couple of bucks!

Although graphic design did not become my main career-choice, my Photoshop skills and design sense have always come in handy.

When people watch videos I created, there is always a sense of “this looks good, but I can’t quite put my finger on why”. But I know why.

It is very easy to overlook, but my design sense comes through in everything that I create. These design skills have been a handy sidekick in preparing anything that will look good in people’s eyes.

3 – Studying what makes videos engaging

Towards the end of 2015, all I wanted to do was interview restaurant owners & chefs. I had watched a ton of episodes of Food.Curated. by Liza De Guia and fell in love with the way she was able to capture stories, it was magical to me. This sense of wonder led me to explore the stories of restaurants & chefs through my video-based blog, Beyond The Eats. I was determined to capture and share stories too but in my own way.

It’s safe to call it a blessing in disguise now, but on the day of my first shoot for Beyond The Eats the videographer cancelled on me. I will never forget how I felt on that day.

I took the train from Brooklyn to Harlem (because that is far in NYC terms) just to apologize for rescheduling, I honestly felt terrible.

So terrible in fact that I vowed that I will get my own video equipment. Since I started, I have made mistakes with videos, had a couple of hit videos, but one of the biggest things I have learned is how to keep people’s attention. Many people say attention is one of the greatest currencies in modern society, which I agree with.

If you have seen some of my promotional style videos, you’ll notice that many of them are fast, engaging, and you do not want to look away. Although I can make many different styles of videos, this was a style I wanted to own.

I wanted to know how to make people keep watching my videos and have learned a lot about exactly how to do that over the years. It depends on the project, but I apply these skills to certain businesses when necessary!

If you are a business owner, entrepreneur, or you are trying to build your personal brand, look no further…

I hope this piece has helped you see how I am different from most videographers. Although my journey has been anything but straight-forward, I am excited to continue on the unbeaten path.I love what I do, I am happy about everything that has happened during my life to get here, and plan to help a lot of people grow through the power of video.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can check out my Get Started page or Portfolio.

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